Page 38 - May 2020

FIELD NOTES

Gunner in a B-17 during WWII, and he came

face to face with an enemy but he just couldn’t
shoot as an example of his compassion. I ended
with a call to action to be heroes during these
troubling times.

My third speech was a great success! I came
in 1st place out of six talented contestants.
Now things were getting real! Patrick
Locke, Marv Serhan and Bob Hall—all

three Distinguished Toastmasters—reached
out to me to provide an incredible level of
support. Apparently, I was the first member of
Professionally Speaking to ever make it that far

in the International Speech contest. They rallied
the other Toastmasters groups in my area, and
arranged for me to perform my speech on a
circuit.

I lost track of all the meetings where I spoke
and received evaluations. Each time I spoke I
received amazing feedback. I practiced daily and
Saturday, April 18th - Since the last speech tried to apply the recommended improvements in

contest, the world had completely changed due my many rehearsals. I printed out an evaluation
to the Coronavirus Pandemic. People everywhere that was emailed to me by Marv Serhan and this
were sheltering in place, and public gatherings incredibly detailed analysis was a 12-page report!
were shut down. Toastmasters meetings and I felt like Rocky Balboa in a training montage,

contests had gone 100% digital. except I had many experienced coaches in my
I shared a speech about one of my personal corner, not just one. I was developing my public
heroes, my Grandpa Lee. I talked about several speaking skills every single day.
traits of his that I admire: creativity, self-sacrifice, Saturday May 16th - The District 7 contest

and compassion. I told brief but impactful was run amazingly well. We have all gotten
personal stories that exemplified each positive really good at using Zoom video conferencing
quality. I spoke about his gifts that he had crafted by now. The 7 other speakers were highly skilled,
out of wood, and what they meant to me as an and I was genuinely impressed by several of the

example of creativity. I shared about when he fell performances.
and broke his hip but still let my Grandmother I undoubtedly gave my best version of my
sleep as an example of self-sacrifice. I iterated speech yet. I retitled the speech Portrait of a
the story about when my Grandfather was a Hero and showcased a painting that I had made

38 ONE COMMUNITY